Trusting Trust
by Kieri Norou
Summary: What would Luffy do if one of his Nakama were physically unable to complete their dreams. And what would happen to the crew if something were to disrupt their entire way of life?
1. The Usual Day Gone Bad

Hey, Well I got this idea when I was just sitting around being bored, cuz I'm sick. I started to ask the question of what Luffy would do if one of his Nakama were physically incapable of completing their dreams? Because we all know that he values his Nakama's dreams just as much as his own, it's part of what makes him so great. So Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story, and please remember to review after your finished. Criticisms are welcomed… after all how can I get better without knowing what I did wrong.

Enjoy.

Trusting Trust

Chapter 1- The Usual day gone bad

By: Kieri Norou

The day had started out as a rather regular in not duller then usual day for the mugiwara pirates. The weather was clear and easy to read. Even the instincts of the money-hungry navigator were at ease. Everyone had gone about their daily business trying not to get in anyone's way.

Ussop had found his perch in the crow's nest and took his usual duties as lookout. Zoro, right below him was soundly snoozing as the wind blew against his three swords propped up against the mast. Robin, was dutifully reading her book while enjoying the days good weather. In the cabin Chopper made himself useful by working on creating more rumble balls. Who knew when they would come in handy? Not too far from his work station Chopper could smell the workings of Sanji as he diligently prepared the day's snacks for the women on board. Below them Nami could be found in her own room carefully jotting down notes for the maps that she was sure to be finishing up soon. And finally, the ever-present captain, Luffy had been found loosely clinging to the head of the Going Merry with a bored expression on his face.

However, none of that had lasted very long, for only a few minutes past before the expression of boredom soon changed to one of confusion as the captain was propelled off the ship by a huge splash. Lucky for him his elongated arms allowed him to grasp onto the side of the small ship and propel himself back to the safety of the deck. On his way he heard Ussop's scream of fright. They were under attack. Luffy's smile lit his face so fast it was on before he even crashed into Zoro, who had yet to wake up from the cannons hailing down on them.

"Luffy, what are you doing?" A very agitated swordsman had yet again been awakened by one of his captain's miscalculated actions.

Before Luffy could give his usual apology, the boat rattled hard, tilting to one side. It was as if the attacking pirates had planned to have every one of the crew angered with that one shot. The first thing to be noticed was Robins book flying out of her hands and into the ocean, not a second after that an explosion came from the cabin, effectively followed by Sanji's dissatisfied scream. "THE FOOD!"

Not long after, the door to the lower cabin slammed open, showing the now angry red-haired navigator holding up a now very black piece of paper as ink dripped down it. "LUFFY, Kick their ASSES." After that command the Going Merry tipped back to the other side, effectively slamming Zoro's head against the mast, and showing Ussop the now gaping whole in the ships exterior. Luffy had been rather unaffected by all of this until the boats movement caused his hat to join Robins now soaked book.

"HAT" The captains call for his treasure went unnoticed by his nakama as they were now preparing to enter battle with the approaching ship. Right as Luffy regained his floating hat the battle ensued. Causing his slight weakness by the touch of ocean water to be pushed aside. The enemy boarded the Going Merry with guns and swords alike. The small crew that Luffy had effectively gathered were far out-numbered, however, that didn't seem to bother the now enraged crew as they fought off the enemy.

Ussop, now pissed at the onslaught of damage his precious ship was accumulating, used his vantage point in the crow's nest to his advantage shooting at the offensive men who dared harm his treasure. Robin held her own easily as she took out any oncoming enemies. Chopper, now in the use of the rumble ball was also fairing well. These enemies may have been great in number, but they were weak in power as Sanji soon found out as he took out 20 men easily with his swift kicks. Zoro also didn't find this to be a very challenging bout and was now completely annoyed that he'd even had to be wakened up for such a useless fight. Luffy too was a bit disappointed, however, he was still happy for the distraction to an otherwise boring day.

Nami, however, had taken the time to sneak onto the enemy ship and see what kind of merchandise they had. It had become obvious to her that these were just a bunch of no-name scavengers looking for loot. They didn't care who they fought so long as they got money, and that meant that they had to have some already. She was now below deck where she found, that they had stupidly left it unguarded. Finding a locked wooden door she put her expertise to work effectively picking the lock. Her eyes were pleasantly surprised by the amount of gold and jewels that was scattered around the room.

It would take more then one trip to get it all on board the Going Merry, she only hoped that her crew didn't finish the job to quickly. Deciding to take the most valuable stuff first she started to collect the treasure in a giant sack she had found laying around. She was happily humming when her instincts told her to turn around. Coming face to face with a menacing man, Nami slowly backed up, wanting to put more space between them. She knew that she had her clima-tact but she wasn't sure how much good it would do against such a tall brute. Now hopping that her crew had finished them off quickly and had noticed her prolonged absence, Nami sent a nervous smile towards the clearly evil man.

"Wretched wench." The towering menace lifted his muscular arm high, preparing to strike the intruding woman. Nami looked on in shock as his hand came closer to her face. Bracing herself for the painful impact she noticed a rather purplish liquid coming towards her only a few inches ahead of the hand ready to impale her. Suddenly, Nami found herself sprawled back against the wall of the ship. Although her body was in pain from the abuse it had just withheld she didn't pay any attention to it as her eyes were now facing a much more unbearable, agonizing pain.

Using her fingers to scratch at the burning pain Nami's voice began to scream itself raw. Panting harshly, while she tried to clear her eyesight Nami was effectively quieted by the large mans foot connecting with her head. Smirking down at the helpless girl, the dark man roughly grabbed and tossed her over his shoulder.

Outside, the battle had ended leaving many unconscious men in its wake. Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro were effectively throwing them overboard as Ussop worked hard on the repairs. Robin however, was looking around curiously. "If I may, where is the miss navigator?"

Zoro grunted as he threw the last man overboard. "Where she always is… getting the loot." Picking the leftover swords up off the deck he investigated them, searching for they're wroth finally coming to the conclusion that they were useless threw them overboard as well. Sanji, who had been convinced to help Ussop with repairs, also stated his confidence in the young navigator.

Luffy grinned widely as he approached the newest member of the Going Merry, "It's her favorite thing," he explained. He then set off to the upper deck to see what damage Ussop was crying about.

Chopper, during this entire time had been running around pocking and prodding at everyone's body making sure that they didn't come to any harm during the battle. Coming to a stand still on his way from Sanji to Zoro the young reindeers eyes swiveled to the enemy's bigger ship. Looking around he was a bit confused; he could have sworn that he had heard Nami scream, however, nobody else seemed to be bothered.

'_I can't let my wild imagination control my actions, I'm a pirate now, I won't allow myself to worry about unnecessary things.'_ Convincing himself that what he had indeed heard was just his imagination, Chopper continued on his way to Zoro.

He was never given the chance however, as everyone was interrupted by what could only be called an evil laugh. "Well, looks like I lost some men, no matter, hand over the loot, or the pretty one gets it." The smiles that had been plastered on everyone's faces (except for poor Ussop) were then quickly washed away as the man proceeded to show off the now very fragile looking navigator. The crew's eyes hardened at the sight of blood producing from her head.

Chopper's jaw dropped as tears now fell quickly down his furry cheeks. Zoro calmly replied to the annoyingly smirking man. "Nah, you can just keep her." Sanji, who had just lit a new cigarette immediately, reacted.

"Don't say that you Marimo, my Nami-san's hurt, can't you see?" Chopper was now looking from the swordsmen to the cook and back, was this really the time for bickering? Of coarse, everyone else on the ship knew that the swordsmen hadn't been serious, however, his declaration had surprised the tall man. Luffy, who up until then had been observing his limp navigator hooked in the man's left arm, took advantage of his enemy's surprise and unleashed his powerful arm effectively hitting the man in the face, sending him flying backwards into unconsciousness.

Nami, who had been falling down to the ocean was then caught by Robin's ability and returned to the safety of her own ship. Soon, everyone crowded around the shallowly breathing girl. "AHH, she's hurt, call a doctor." Chopper, began to panic, running circles around the group

"Oi, that's you." Ussop bluntly pointed out. He then took the initiative and took Nami below deck. Chopper stopped his frantic calls for help, and then with a realization quickly followed behind the gunmen.

Luffy was still glaring up at the bigger ship, not at all happy with them. "I don't like them." His statement sent the remaining crew into a silence; it wasn't often that their captain stated his disapproval of people. "Let's set sail." His order was one more out of the need to leave this place before it's stink crept any farther into his ship then it already had, then anything else. Either way, the crew obeyed and they were soon on their way to a new adventure.

Hours had passed and it was now dinnertime. Choppers observation had been that Nami had been dealt a blow to the head and that when she awakened she'd most likely have a concussion, but that it shouldn't be too much to worry about. Nothing that a bit of rest and relaxation couldn't cure. As of now, everyone was up in the cabin eating their dinner, Chopper had only come up to retrieve his, so that he could return to Nami's side and observe her for any unusual behavior. However, their routine dinner of food being stolen and lots of laughter was disrupted by the sound of a loud crash coming from below deck.

"Nami!" was everyone's observation as they all headed down to see what the commotion was. Luffy, quickly grabbed the last piece of meat and stuffing it in his face before heading down.

Once everyone reached the Navigators private room they were stunned to see a thrashing Nami throwing everything in her reach to the ground. A crying Chopper, ineffectively trying to calm her. "Please Nami, calm down, your going to hurt yourself."

"No, No, NO! Chopper, why can't I SEE?"

All right, well that's it for Chapter one. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please do read and review and tell me if you think I should continue. I had fun writing this chapter (even though, right now, I am sick GRRR, stupid sickness) but either way, I would like to continue, I just need to know if anyone would actually like me to continue.

Take care,

Kieri Norou


	2. Question's and Answers

Hey, well here is the second chapter, I can't promise that all chapters will come out as soon as this one did, but I can try. It all depends on homework. Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone for reviewing, and I hope to hear from all of you (and new people too) again after you read this chapter. All right, well I hope you enjoy, now on with the story.

Trusting Trust

Chapter 2- Question's and Answers

By: Kieri Norou

The Usually cheerful, happy go lucky, 'nothing can get us down' Mugiwara crew had come to a dark standstill. Floating there in place on the now black sea you could feel the tension rising off the small boat, even the shining stars above did nothing to mediate the pain, the normally strong crew was feeling. Everyone's thoughts were quiet as they sat around the wooden dinning table waiting for Chopper's latest update on their precious navigators health.

Everyone had been stunned, as they had reached the room below deck. To find Nami so destructive was completely new. She had never shown them this side of her anger, usually; she would either take it out on the crew's heads or just slam the door and start working furiously on her maps. But now, as they had looked around the room, the treasured maps were scattered and torn. Some lay underneath the broken bedside lamp while others that hadn't been close enough to Nami's reach lie dripping in the ink she'd thrown across the room, effectively blackening her surroundings.

It now seemed eerily silent, as the struggling had come to an end when Chopper had been able to inject a sedative into the frightened girl. When they had arrived the small doctor had pleaded for their help, he had needed someone to restrain her, before she caused any more damage to herself. It soon became apparent that someone to hold her was not going to be enough as she'd effectively thrown off both Sanji and Zoro. Ussop had tried to calm her down, however he found himself lying a few feet away with a bloody nose. When the crew had enlisted their captains help he had either chosen to ignore them or not to care, for he just stood there watching to room be destroyed. Finally, Robin had used her ability to contain the thrashing girl. Why she hadn't just done this in the first place was beyond everyone's understanding.

Not a word was spoken between the Nakama as the only sound was of Sanji blowing out the poisonous smoke from his cigarette, finally, after what seemed like hours the small head of the doctor poked it's way into the cabin. Everyone turned to stare at him, at first it seemed they didn't even recognize him, but as he nervously made his way into the cabin, sound was given back to the crew. Both Ussop and Sanji were the first up right in the poor doctors face, Sanji, trying to shake his answers out of the frightened humanoid reindeer.

"What happened, why couldn't my Nami-san see? What did that jerk do to her?" Sanji's arms kept tight hold of Chopper as he pleaded for answers, Ussop right behind him asking the same things. However, Chopper's abuse was halted as Robin's extra arms guided him to the floor.

"Don't you think that it might be easier for the Mr. Doctor to answer if he is not at risk of receiving brain damage?" Robin settled her gentle smile on the shaken doctor and kneeling down to his height she reassured him, "Go on, we would all like to hear what has happened to the Miss. Navigator."

Somewhat calmed down by Robin's rescue Chopper looked around the room, Sanji and Ussop were both still towering above him looking impatient for the answers, Zoro was off sitting against a wall with his swords nestled against his shoulder, his eyes boring into the doctor's, Robin had seated herself on one of the benches surrounding the wooden table, her legs crossed and her face placed certainly in her hand, not far from her was Luffy, still facing the other direction, his face intent on something he had in his hands. Chopper, deciding that he had better start the explanations took a deep breath, preparing himself before he revealed the less than satisfying news.

"I'm afraid that Nami is, well…." This was going to be harder then he had thought… he'd never had to deal with giving bad news's that was always something he was happy to leave to Doctorine. At the glares he was getting from the blond cook, he continued, "She's blind… I'm not really sure if there's a cure yet."

Everyone in the room had known what Nami had screeched earlier that night, however, all of them had just tried to pass it off as something that didn't matter. Now though, it was all too real, how were they supposed to respond to that kind of news? The only one seemingly unaffected by this news was the sidetracked captain. Chopper wondered silently just what exactly was so interesting about the paper Luffy held in his hands. The first to come out of the shock brought to them was Robin who calculated her words carefully before voicing anything. "What do you mean, Mr. Doctor, your not sure if there's a cure?"

Looking up at the mature archeologist, Chopper had been expecting that question. "Well, I took a look in Nami's eyes, but with the supplies I have now, there's only so much I can do, I can't get a good look at what might be the cause of this blindness without more up to date medical supplies. I thought to ask Nami what it might have been, but once I did get her calmed down enough to ask, she couldn't remember much about anything that happened today, most likely a side effect of the concussion she has." Chopper took a deep breath, knowing that what he was going to say next would not go over well. "For now, the only thing I can do is give her medicine for the headaches… but even that might be risky, because I don't know what effects that will have on whatever has entered her retina's."

No one said a word, there really was nothing they could say, finally Chopper broke the tense atmosphere by asking Sanji for some tea that he could bring to Nami, it would help calm her nerves. Agreeing, the stunned cook went to work on the order. "Oi, Chopper, so the only reason you don't know of a cure yet, is because you don't know the cause, right?" the long-nosed gunman was trying to make sense of everything, and maybe find some way around the bad news. Nodding his answer Chopper was looking at the ground, he felt bad for letting his Nakama down, there was nothing he could do right now. "So, if we were to get you better equipment, you might be able to find out what exactly were dealing with, right?"

Looking up at the thinking man, Chopper once again nodded, "yeah, if I knew what got into her eyes, I might be able to find the cure, it might take a while, but it would be possible." Everyone seemed to be happy with this new development, and feeling as if he shouldn't get everyone's hopes falsely up the sad reindeer continued, "but, it could go either way, if I find out what it is, there's also the chance that there may not be a cure. There are just some things that can't be cured after the damage is done." His last statement sent a solemn feeling throughout the cabin.

Having heard enough Zoro stood from his perch and stretched his arms out. Everyone watched him carefully, Sanji's eyes trained on him as he walked over to Chopper delivering the hot tea. The swordsmen was known for being rather unpredictable in situations like these, and it was always a wonder what his input would be. Looking at the rest of the crew Zoro gave a rather disgruntled glare at all of their faces staring intently at him. "Listen, no matter the outcome, what we have to do now is obvious." At everyone's confused looks the famous swordsmen sighed in utter frustration "We have to get to the next port so Chopper can buy his supplies." Everyone's eyes filled with understanding and soon they were now all staring at their captain waiting for the order.

Luffy, however, was still just studying the parchment in front of him, "Oi, Luffy, take this more seriously." Ussop's call didn't seem to bother the oblivious captain any as he just gave them all a wave, seemingly allowing the ship to set sail. Deciding to ignore their captain's odd behavior, the crew went out preparing the ship for the next port. They didn't really care that it was the middle of the night; it wasn't likely that any of them would be sleeping anyway.

As gentle waves splashed against the steadily sailing Going Merry, Robin, the crew's newest member carefully watched the log-pose for any clue as to where they were going, she was a bit nervous but like with all of her emotions she was doing a good job of hiding it from the still somewhat shocked crew. It had been decided that until they could get Nami's sight back the archeologist would be the one to guide the crew to the next Island. She hadn't been too happy with the decision, for it was a far cry from her usual job of sitting and reading her treasured books, however, she had agreed seeing as she was the only one besides Nami that had even the slightest clue as to how to get from one place to the other. Not far from her Sanji was talking to Ussop about just how many supplies they had left, again, this was something that their faithful navigator usually took care of, but now, with them coming to a port for the first time in weeks, they would need to restock without the help of Nami.

Hurriedly scurrying around Chopper was trying to be the best help that he could, running from Nami's side to the deck every few minutes. This whole ordeal put him on edge, and even though he had given the crew some hope, his instincts told him that it might not be possible to cure this at all. The effects of whatever had happened to their navigator had worked too quickly, too unusually. He had thought that perhaps it was oil, but soon ruled that out, as the swelling around her eyes would not have been a side effect of oil. Along with the negative signs Nami had developed a small fever, that was for the most part non-dangerous but something Chopper was watching closely non-the-less. He'd never seen anything like this while he worked along side Doctorine, and it scared Chopper that his crew was depending on him to take care of Nami when he really had no practice in what he was doing. Sighing as he stopped outside on the deck Chopper's keen eyes noticed that his captain wasn't at his usual perch atop the lamb head, wondering where the ever-bouncy captain was Chopper was just about to go look for him when Robin called him over.

Inside the Cabin, Zoro was watching intently as his captain sat at the table… the same place he'd been sitting all night, still looking at that same piece of paper. Finally coming to the conclusion that it just wasn't normal for someone of Luffy's nature to sit so long, Zoro decided to see what exactly Luffy was doing. "Oi, what do you have there? You've been staring at it this whole time." Coming to stand over the hunched form of the Mugiwara captain, Zoro's eyes scrunched as he tried to make out the remnants of what seemed to be a very black and torn map. Confused Zoro tried to understand what Luffy could possibly want with that. After voicing his questions Luffy just seemed to ignore him. Finally, after another 20 minutes of the captain sitting and staring at the map the swordsmen decided to just leave him be.

"Neh, Zoro." The call stopped the tall 19-year-old right before he was about to turn the slightly rusted knob to the outside world. Facing the black haired boy that had finally acknowledged something other than that paper, Zoro was caught off guard by the irregular serious look painted on his captain's face. "Nami's dream is to draw a map of the world, right?" Luffy's eyes were once again on the parchment. At Zoro's slight grunt of agreement, he continued, "So, why did she hurt this map tonight?"

Luffy's question caught the swordsman by surprise, had his captain been thinking about that all night? Letting a sideways sliver of a smile grace his handsome face Zoro couldn't help but be amazed by his friends seemingly innocent mind. "It was a mistake, she was just scared and did some stuff that she didn't mean to." At the perplexed look on Luffy's face, Zoro was about to try again when the red-vested boy interrupted him.

"She was scared?" The question sounded so naïve, so innocent that Zoro actually thought for a moment that the guy in front of him didn't have a clue as to what was going on. Waiting for the 17 year old to clear things up Zoro was loosing patients when Luffy finally fallowed up with his earlier statement. "Why?"

It was official… Zoro lost all memory as to why he trusted Luffy so much… how could he have not been paying attention? Did he not hear Nami's desperate question about her sight? Taking a deep breath the green haired man tried to calm his nerves. "Luffy… Nami can't see." Looking at his captain Zoro was proud to see that it looked as if he was actually getting through to him. "Something that bastard did to her, made her loose her sight. She's blind." Eyes widening Zoro wondered if perhaps his captain didn't understand what it meant to be blind. After asking his question, Luffy gave him a curt nod. Good, so he did know what it meant. Zoro was relieved that he didn't have to try and explain it, if anything he'd just hand the situation over to Sanji, or maybe Chopper would be better suited for that job.

"But, Nami's not blind." The statement sent Zoro right out of his mind and back into reality. Giving the peculiar boy a questioning look, Luffy proved his hypothesis. "Ace told me that when your blind you either have a dog or a special walking stick, Nami doesn't have either of those, so she's not blind." Luffy's observation promptly led to Zoro falling to the ground.

"LUFFY!" A now very agitated Zoro couldn't help but smack his somewhat slow, naive, friend over the head. " That's not what makes a blind person blind… that's what helps the blind live their lives." Blowing out air filled with frustration Zoro backed away from the wide eyed boy, "I'll go get Chopper, to explain it too you." Before stepping out the door the swordsman tried to make the well-meaning boy understand. "Nami's blind Luffy, and right now were doing everything in our power to change that, that's all there is too it." With that final statement Zoro left to go find the needed doctor.

Luffy stood there for a bit, the black piece of paper still clutched in his hands. His wide eyes slowly taking in the new information he had just learned. When his mind finally came to terms with what had been said he left the cabin and went unnoticed by the rest of the crew down to Nami's private room. Walking down the narrow hallway he wasn't really sure what he was doing, but now that he understood at least partially what was going on, he didn't feel he could just sit up in the cabin any longer. Perhaps his childlike curiosity wanted to see if what Zoro had said was true, or maybe he just wanted to see what a blind person looked like. Whatever the reason, once he made it to the small wooden room he was met with silence.

Hey all, Thank-you sooo much for all the wonderful review's I really appreciate them. I hope you enjoyed this chapter it was somewhat of filler, but a necessary one at that. I think my hardest thing with this fic is going to be keeping the characters in character. I really don't like it when people are OOC, cuz the characters are just so great. Now, obviously, I wont be able to keep them perfectly in character but I want to keep them just a sliver away from perfection. So if you have any complaints about OOC please, please, tell me and I'll do my best to fix it. Please do Review, I love review's and as always Criticism is welcomed.

Have a great day

Kieri Norou


	3. Invisible Sight

Hey all, I am so, so sorry that it took me so long to post this, last week I had exams and then I had to help my friend out with some of her own problems. Not too mention that it has hardly stopped raining here in 2 weeks. I don't know why but I'm just never able to write very well when it's raining. Either way, I finally got this chapter done so I hope you enjoy.

Trusting Trust

Chapter 3- Invisible Sight

By: Kieri Norou

Gently rocking, a single lantern hanging from a planted hook in the ceiling swayed silently with the calming waves, casting the dancing shadows across the dimly lit room. On one side of the room a wooden desk held a slightly disgruntled pile of hard-planned sea maps tilting towards a small inkbottle standing guard by the collection of finely chosen feather quills. Over in a neat corner a box of medical supplies accompanied the high heel shoos the mugiwara navigator was always seen wearing. Next to the familiar attire rested a wooden bed pushed against the wall. The beds warm blankets were carefully folded around the huddled form of the orange haired girl. Her arms tightly holding her legs to her chest, and through unseeing eyes she allowed crystal tears to cascade down the redness of her cheeks.

Luffy watched this all as he stood in the doorway of his navigator's room, he had entered unnoticed and now just seemed to be waiting for her to allow him passage in her room. He'd already learned long ago that entering Nami's room without permission just wasn't something that you normally wanted to do… not unless you desired a headache for the next few days. After waiting a minute it became clear to him that his pained nakama would not be inviting him in, with this conclusion he decided to make his presence known to the quivering girl. Calling out her name he knew she had heard him when her blank eyes met with the place she knew the door was located. Her stare made Luffy uneasy, he'd never seen eyes so lifeless, and he wasn't sure he really liked them. The weak greeting that met his ears broke his private thoughts. "That you, Luffy?"

To her credit Nami tried her very hardest to make her voice as strong as it usually was, however, she just couldn't seem to bring enough strength into her spirit to make the call sound anything more than a weak, scared question. She cringed at her own voice and tried desperately to put on a smile so that her captain wouldn't be suspicious of her odd behavior, one hand reached up and quickly wiped away her stray tears as she looked in the direction she hopped Luffy was stationed. She was a strong girl and she didn't need the sympathy of others, she'd been through worse and she'd be damned if she allowed herself to show weakness now.

As her gaze continued to reach forward Nami was unaware that her captain had come to stand beside her watching her stare at the door, his head fell to one side as he tried to understand just what was so interesting about that door. "Neh, Nami why are you staring over there? I don't see anything, is it invisible?" startled by Luffy's sudden presence Nami's face shot towards the bewildered boy. His face still held a confused look as he noticed her eyes not actually looking at him but past him. Glancing behind him the boy sighed… he just didn't get it, what could she see that he couldn't see? It wasn't fair; he wanted to see it too.

Nami really wasn't sure what to say to his question, she hadn't quite come to terms with this sudden disability and she certainly wasn't ready to explain it to her overly naïve captain, and so she was at a loss for words. How did you explain to someone so child-like that you couldn't see? And more over, you had no clue as to the reason behind the blindness. Swallowing Nami mentally prepared herself as she took a deep breath. "Luffy, I can't see anything." Her voice quivered as she continued slowly, "I'm…" She had never thought it would this hard to voice it, she supposed that once the words left her mouth she would finally come to accept it, however, she didn't feel that she should be trying to accept this, as a matter of fact she felt that she should just be angry. Angry that this had happened to her, angry that that damn pirate had hurt her, angry that she hadn't gotten any gold, angry that she had been stupid enough to bored that ship, angry that her crew hadn't come to help her, angry that she had even been in the Grand Line.

Yes that was it, she should be angry that she had entered the Grand Line, she should be angry that she ever left Kokoyashi Island, angry that she had ever met Luffy. Nami wasn't really sure how all this tied up with her meeting Luffy but right now it seemed to make perfect sense, if she hadn't met the straw-hat pirate then she would still have her sight, sure she would still be working for Arlong but then this never would have happened to her. Yes that's right, Arlong was cruel and just plain evil but HE never would have let this happen, he never would have let her be blinded by some scumbag pirate. He would have done a better job of taking care of her then Luffy did. When Nami's brain finally caught up with her thoughts she couldn't hold in the painful gasp from leaving her lips, and suddenly she had tears streaming down her face again, completely forgetting about her silent guest. Had she really become so low as to think such cruel things about her captain and the adventures he'd allowed her to experience? Suddenly feeling angry with herself Nami mentally scolded her outrages thoughts for ever taking form.

Luffy, long forgotten, was still standing there with his head once again tilted to the side. He watched as Nami's face became contorted in unmasked anger, causing him to unknowingly take a step back. It had started off as a slow movement, her jaw clenching, and then her mouth coming into a frown, her eyes that once were staring vainly past him now came to rest in one her for scary glares. Watching all of this, Luffy really wasn't sure what to make of it, it wasn't often that Nami would hold in her anger, so his instincts told him to run, however, he stood there patiently waiting for her to finish her explanation of the invisible thing only she seemed able to see. Coming to a realization, Luffy snapped his fingers, and as he was about to state his explanation for the teenage girls strange behavior he was interrupted by an overflow of angry tears streaming down Nami's delicate face.

This seemed to cause an uncharacteristic frown to appear on the happy-go-lucky boy as he allowed his gaze to search the room. "Nami, did that invisible thing make you cry? I'll kick his ass!" Luffy started to search for the mysterious enemy looking under tables and behind curtains. All the while, Nami who had been brought out of her thoughts by the realization that her captain was still very much in the room stared at the place his voice had originally came from. Now it was a well known fact that Luffy didn't' take kindly to people who went after any of his Nakama so his statement itself hadn't really surprised her, pleased her yes, but surprised her, no. A small smile gracefully painted it's way onto Nami's face as she heard her noisy captain now throwing out threats to the non-existent enemy.

Deciding that she should try to clear things up before Luffy tore the entire room apart looking for her supposed assailant, Nami once again took a deep breath before continuing. "Luffy, there isn't an invisible thing…" her statement was cut off as Luffy was now looking under her covers, quickly becoming annoyed at the seemingly depth captain Nami sent a swift kick to the boy's face. Hearing the sound of her captain hitting the ground Nami tried to continue "you don't need to fight any enemies right now, there's nothing too fight."

Luffy, who was still sprawled on the floor looked up to the map making geniuses, he really wasn't sure what was going on anymore, everything seemed to be so confusing since those know-nothing pirate scavengers had come by, but he supposed that If Nami said that there wasn't an enemy in the room, then there mustn't be one. However, he still couldn't figure out what was happening, and it bothered him that there was still a few lone tears falling down his Navigators face. Luffy really didn't like it when any of his crew was hurt, either physically or emotionally. They weren't supposed to be getting hurt… at least not badly, they were supposed to be going out and having fun, going on grand adventures laughing and singing—well, the singing part would have to wait until after they found a musician, but he could think about that later. Right now, he wanted to understand why Nami wasn't acting like her normal self and why in the world Sanji didn't have dinner ready yet.

Suddenly, Luffy remembered something; Zoro had said that Nami was blind…. Maybe that was why she was acting so strange. Proud of himself for figuring it out a wide toothy grin spread across Luffy's rubber face. "Oi, Nami, Zoro say's your blind, why don't you just try to turn on your sight again?"

A sudden jolt of annoyance sprang up Nami's spine as she searched the ground for where Luffy may be stationed; her eyebrows twitched angrily as she slowly asked, "Turn…on… my… sight?" She was hopping that she had just become depth as well and hadn't heard the 17-year-old right.

"Yep, you know, when we close our eyes we don't see anything, and then when we open them suddenly we can see, so there's got to be a switch or something that turns our sight on and off, right? So just close your eyes and open them again, you probably just didn't open your eyes the right way last time." During his whole speech Luffy was sitting with his legs crossed as he continued to blink, as if showing Nami just how you were supposed to open and close your eyes.

Nami, however, found this speech less then amusing, actually, she found it frightening… could it even be possible that someone like Luffy existed? How was she supposed to even interpret his statement? It was so… juvenile that she suddenly doubted she was actually talking to her captain, what if it was some little kid playing a cruel joke on her? Either way, Nami decided that even if it wasn't Luffy this person deserved punishment for their supposed stupidity. Clenching her fists Nami let out a powerful swing, only then realizing she didn't know where to aim it. Before she could react gravity had taken its hold on the poor girl and pulled her down to the floor where she now lie next to the bewildered Luffy.

"Whatcha do that for Nami?" Luffy's eyes stayed pasted on her fallen form as she tiredly tried to sit up. Luckily for her, the loud noises coming from her room had attracted the curious reindeer and as Luffy was about to ask another irritating question he was interrupted by Zoro's sudden appearance behind him, fallowed closely by Sanji coming to Nami's immediate aid.

"Nami-San, Why are you on the floor?" asking his question, Sanji proceeded to dust Nami off as he helped her back onto the bed. Nami who at the time was all of the sudden overwhelmed by the amount of overbearing noise in her at one point very peaceful room tried to brush the confident cook off.

Feeling Chopper's inhuman hands searching her for injury Nami resigned herself with a sigh and decided on just allowing this annoyance to continue, there really wasn't anything she could do about it anyways. "I was trying to hit our baka captain for his stupidity." Her statement rang loud and clear in the blond man's ears and he immediately bounded over to the young man that was currently being scolded by both Zoro and Ussop.

"Oi, Oi, Luffy, are you listening to a word I'm sayi—" The sharpshooters sentence was cut short as the young man before him was pounded to the ground and now was continuously being hit over the head.

"Baka, what did you do to poor Nami-san? Why didn't you let her hit you? You made her fall on the floor Baka!" and with that Sanji's leg came crashing down painfully causing Luffy to crack the floorboards.

"AHHHHHHH, don't hurt the Going Merry!" His frantic arms waving above his head as he ran around trying to find the tools needed to fix the precious ship closely fallowed Ussop's shriek of dismay.

Ignoring Ussop's background noises of displeasure Sanji continued his attack on the very confused boy below him, "look Nami-san, look, I'm hitting him for you, Nami-san, don't worry, I'll take care of him so you can rest assured now, he has paid for his crime against you my Nami-swan."

Zoro who had taken a stance leaning against the wall of the room after Sanji's first assault on their captain was now looking completely annoyed as he promptly brought the palm of his hand to his face slapping it against his skin as if trying to ignore the utter chaos ensuing in the small room "Oi, Love-cook, stop saying that, she can't see anything, baka". Robin who still hadn't made it past the doorframe allowed a small smile to grace her face, this crew amused her and always seemed to brighten her day even in situations like this.

Chopper, who at first had been examining Nami was now looking worriedly around the room, he didn't know who he should be worried more about, the beaten captain, the sobbing shipwright, or the ever tensing navigator… this was all just too much for the young doctor, he wasn't sure just how much more his ill-tempered patient could take, however he wasn't confident in his ability to clear the wooden room of the other occupants. Looking from one crew member to the other his thoughts were stalled as the dark eyed captain was finally able to raise his face from the broken floor, small slivers of wood falling to the ground as he confronted the swordsmen's earlier statement. "But Zoro, she can see, she can see something invisible that's in the room… it's not fair… I wanna see it too." At the captain's obvious whine every member of the mugiwara kazoku halted in their actions, even Robin's smile was erased from her lips.

Nami, who had been trying her very hardest to contain her fury and frustration was now desperately clenching her hands, her anger had been growing with each disturbance of sound but now as the room grew quiet it only seemed to grow ten-fold, finally unable to stop the uncontrollable rage her fists pounded into her legs as her voice rose over the silence sending everyone into frantic surprise. "GET OUT, all of you just GET OUT! I don't want you anywhere near me, just go, right NOW, leave me ALONE!" It didn't take long for everyone to pile out of the room heading to the upper deck fearfully trying to avoid any danger.

Once the room was met with silence Nami's prone figure began to shake, she didn't feel as though she was even on the Going Merry anymore, how could she? Nothing was familiar, all that surrounded her was darkness filled with sounds that never before seemed important. How was she to know that the sound of the creaking wood never used to bother her only because she had been able to see that there was no danger, how was she to know that the sounds of her Nakama laughing were only ever enjoyable because she could see what caused the humor. She didn't like asking questions, it made her feel as if she was a weak girl who didn't know anything about what was going on around her. And now, as she felt the wet drops of her tears falling to land on her huddled form she realized that she truly was a weak girl, who would never understand her surroundings again.

She'd always be faced with the need to ask questions and she would never be of any use to anyone ever again. She had been weak before, but at least then she had been able to captivate enough courage and understanding to be of some help. However now, how was she supposed to even pretend to be smart, brave, witty, and utterly perfect when she couldn't even see who she was trying to fool? A sudden shift from the waves caused the boat to tilt slightly and in doing so allowed a few scattered piles of maps to fly off of their table and smoothly grace the still shallowly cracked floor. Hearing the unmistakable sound of paper sliding across the floor Nami's instincts told her to remove the map from it's position in danger, however, suddenly, as if some force had finally allowed her comprehension she realized something that she never wanted to be faced with. Her maps, the maps that she had dreamed about since childhood, the entirely cherished collection of information she'd been gathering from the whole trip were at an end. She would never be able to finish her plans and she would never fulfill her dreams.

Finally Nami allowed her protective wall to break as she fell into a waterfall of tears. Nothing would ever be the same again, and the entire reason she was brought along on this adventure was lost. She couldn't possibly be able to navigate for the crew again, and she would have to inevitably be replaced. All together Nami's world came crashing down.

All right well, that's it for this chapter, I really wasn't sure how I wanted to end it but I hope that was good. I'm really hoping that all the characters are IC and if their not please tell me I'll try to fix it if I can. Oh, and I wanted to say thanks to my friend Koru-Chan for helping me out. Also thanks to everyone that has reviewed I really appreciate it. Don' forget to review this chapter too, I could use all the help I can get, especially with this non-stop rain were having. All right, well hope you enjoyed the story thus far, I will do my best not to make you wait so long for the next chapter.

Kieri Norou


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